Nerve Pain

I have been experiencing a lot of nerve pain. My whole thigh is still numb. It ranges from the top part of my hip, down the side and into the glute area and then all areas of my thigh down to my knee. The numbness isn’t painful. It’s numb! It does feel really odd when someone else touches it because the skin is numb, but the muscles underneath are tight and painful. It’s also a really odd sensation to shave my leg. I kind of feel it but mostly don’t. It’s hard to describe the feeling. The worst part of these nerve issues is the actual nerve pain on the inside of my left knee and slightly behind the right side of my left knee. The area is touched a lot because that’s where others and myself grab to lift my leg. After being stimulated and touched, it burns like it’s on fire. The best way for me to describe it, is like a burn that you forgot you had and then go to itch or touch that area. It’s horrible pain and I can’t touch it to make it better, I just have to grin and bear it. I emailed my surgeon’s assistant about it because I just can’t take the pain anymore. I am already on lyrica, a nerve pain medication, and it doesn’t do anything for it. I was told I could put a lidoderm pain patch over the area. I can wear those for 12 hours on and then have it off for 12 hours. I tried it and it’s amazing! Those 12 hours are heavenly. I can have material touch the area with no issues. That’s the worst part sometimes because pants bug it and blankets and my comforter irritate it. Once those 12 hours were over, I had to peel off the sticky pad and O. M. G.! That was almost more painful then just sucking up the nerve pain normally. I only ever used 2 or 3 patches because it was just too much to handle when I had to remove them. So much for my relief! My surgeon is also referring me to a neurologist to have it looked at. He thinks the three main nerves that he operates around are all functioning properly and that the issues I’m having are from cutaneous nerves.

*Update: I saw the neurologist on 11/15/17. He said that my sciatic nerve and femoral nerves are all working well. All the numbness is from the cutaneous nerves and with time, will hopefully come back. He did an EMG nerve study, but it was only a partial test because I can’t lift my leg. He did find that the obturator nerve showed some abnormalities when the muscle was at rest, but it’s too early to really know if something is wrong. He said that as I progress in PT and start some strength training, we’ll know if there’s an issue. I will be weak and not able to use certain muscles. I hope that it is just time that all these nerves need. Fingers crossed!